Ponds Project Overview

Due to our expertise in building partnerships between diverse interest groups, Sustainable Conservation was recruited in 2003 by the San Mateo Farm Bureau and the Coastal Conservancy to develop economically and environmentally sustainable water supplies for farmers along the Santa Cruz and San Mateo coasts. As part of a growing effort to protect and restore coho salmon and steelhead populations, coastal farmers have faced increasing pressures to reduce their reliance on diversions from fish-bearing streams during the critical dry summer months. In the last two years alone, several hundred acres of agricultural land in the project area have fallen out of irrigated production due to enforcement of state and federal regulations designed to protect fish habitat. This trend threatens the long-term viability of local agriculture and jeopardizes ongoing efforts to preserve the regions remaining open spaces.

The goal of the Ponds project is to develop sustainable, environmentally sound agricultural water supplies by facilitating the permitting and construction of off-stream storage ponds to capture excess winter stream flows for use in the dry summer months. By working with our partners to develop a template for addressing the diverse regulatory and water resource allocation issues facing coastal communities, Sustainable Conservation is working to ensure that both fish and farms have the water they need to survive.